Edward
Edward *'Number': 2 *'Class': Furness Railway K2 *'Designer': W. F. Pettigrew *'Builder': Sharp, Stewart and Co. *'Built': 1896 *'Configuration': 4-4-0 *'Arrived on Sodor': circa 1915 Edward is a mixed-traffic engine. He runs his own branch line with BoCo. Edward is one of the oldest engines on Sodor and is occasionally made fun of for his old age. Edward is very wise and positive and spreads his knowledge and positive attitude towards the other engines. Bio in Railway Series Edward was built by Sharp Stewart and Company in Manchester, England in 1896 and worked on the Furness Railway before coming to Sodor in 1915 to finish the building of the North Western Railway. After his work was completed, Edward was kept in a shed, to the delight of the other engines, who claimed that he was too weak to work. Edward was eventually let out again and proved that what he lacked in strength he made up for in work ethic. Edward currently runs the Wellsworth-Brendam branch line with BoCo and occasionally Donald and Douglas. He is sometimes used as a pilot engine for special trains. Bio in Television Series Edward has always been a kind and wise engine, though in some scenarios he has acted a bit out of character. For example, in Harvey to the Rescue, he claimed that Harvey "doesn't even look like an engine". In Thomas and the New Engine, he was one of the engines to spread rumours that Neville wanted to bump the steam engines. In Edward Strikes Out, he agreed with Gordon's element of doubt about Rocky and called him a "new-fangled nonsense". In Edward and the Mail, he did not want to embarrass himself in front of the other engines, so he tried to take the mail train without asking Percy, who was in need of repairs for advice, in result of him delivering the mail to all the wrong places. In the twelfth season episode, Steady Eddie, he was given a task of taking the new water wheel to Great Waterton, but ignored the Fat Controller's advice to take the express track, and took all the bumpy tracks, and almost had the water wheel scrapped. In the thirteenth season, he wanted to help Thomas chase after the Fat Controller's grandchildrens' kite. Since then, Edward has tried to regain his usual self, which one day made Charlie think he was too old to have fun in Charlie and Eddie. Edward was upset about this so he tried to be as fun as Charlie, but this only caused even more trouble. Since then he has just stuck to being the wise and kind engine that he was of old. Persona Edward is kindhearted and always keen to help a friend in need. The small engines trust him to lend a listening ear and sympathetic advice. He is a hard worker too, and always does his best to finish a job. Sadly, the big engines often see Edward as old-fashioned and slow. While it is true he is the oldest engine on the North Western Railway - it must be noted he helped build it - he has proved time and time again that he is more than capable of working as hard as any engine, but he is a more clever and wiser engine, too. Since The Great Festival Adventure, Edward's persona changed slightly. Despite his reputation of being kind and friendly, Edward has acted cheeky. Edward also acted with a lack of confidence in himself in that he keeps secrets from the other engines and the Fat Controller, when he was once leaking steam and likewise when he was told to pull the post train whilst Percy was being repaired. Sometimes, Edward even shared the same personality as James, such as when he decided to show off his special waterwheel and laughed at Thomas when he was wearing a funny funnel. However, since the seventeenth season, Edward has been portrayed with his original personality. Basis The Reverend W. Awdry stated that Edward is based on a heavily modified Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull", supplied to the Furness Railway in 1896. Sodor "historian" Martin Clutterbuck notes that Edward bears a close resemblance to a LNER D3/4 "Glen" (NBR Reid Class K) 4-4-0 from the London and North Eastern Railway. At any rate, the Reverend W. Awdry used an engine of this class to represent Edward on his model railway. Visible Crovan's Gate modifications are: making the rear splasher flush with the cab, new cab windows as opposed to cutaways, and new cab lookouts as opposed to the original round ones. Livery Edward is painted NWR blue with the NWR red and yellow lining and the number "2" painted on his tender sides in bright yellow with a red border. In the Railway Series, he carries two builder's plates on the sides of his cab. It can be assumed that, before arriving on Sodor, Edward was painted in the Furness Railway's red livery with the letters "FR" written in yellow on his tender sides and black wheels. Inspiration The inspiration for Edward himself came from the Reverend W. Awdry's watching trains on the Great Western Railway as a child. He said in an interview with Brian Sibley for The Thomas the Tank Engine Man that, to him, the noise of the locomotives' exhaust almost sounded like dialogue - for example, the larger engine having trouble climbing the hills would appear to be saying, "I can't do it, I can't do it" and the smaller engine helping them would sound like it was saying, "I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!" Later, Reverend Awdry told his son a bedtime story about an engine who was sad because he was never taken out of the shed for being old. Upon being asked what the engine's name was by his son, the Reverend Awdry picked the name Edward out of thin air. Appearances Voice Actors * Keith Wickham (UK; Hero of the Rails onwards) * William Hope (US; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Yasuhiro Takato (Japan; first - eighth seasons) * Nozomu Sasaki (Japan; Calling All Engines! onwards) * Øyvind Borgemoen Lyse (Norway; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Herman López (Mexico; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Christos Topulos (Germany) * Wojciech Chorąży (Poland; Hero of the Rails onwards) * Celso Alves (Brazil; Hero of the Rails onwards) Theme Instrumental Trivia * Edward was the very first character created for the Railway Series, in 1943. * Edward is the only engine whose crew has been named in the Railway Series. In the foreword of "Edward the Blue Engine" their names were given as Charlie Sand (driver) and Sidney Hever (fireman). Their surnames came from their duties (one of the driver's jobs is to sand the rails when they are slippery to let the engine's wheels grip, while the fireman "heaves" coal to the firebox); their Christian names came from an engine crew from the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway. * Three of Edward's models are currently on display; one at Drayton Manor and one in Canada at Nitrogen Studios. One is also on display in Japan. * In the Seventeenth season, Edward gained a permanent lamp and taillamp. * Edward was not in any known draft of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. According to Phil Fehrle , there was not enough screen time and opportunity to utilise him in a way that added any real value to the film. * The rivets on Edward's front buffers disappeared after the ninth season, and his saftey Valve disappears after the Sixth Season. * In Steady Eddie and Charlie and Eddie, Edward refers to himself as "Eddie". Charlie also refers to him by this name. Merchandise * ERTL (normal and Gold Rail; discontinued) * Wooden Railway (several versions) * Take-Along (normal and metallic; discontinued) * My First Thomas (normal and talking) * Motor Road and Rail (normal and talking; discontinued outside Asia) * TrackMaster * Hornby (discontinued) * Bachmann * My Thomas Story Library (discontinued) * Bandai (several versions; discontinued) * Trading Cards * Tomica * Take-n-Play (normal and talking) * De Agostini (discontinued) * Brio (discontinued) * Pez * Mega Bloks (discontinued) * Diablock * Wind-up Trains (normal, shocked face, clear, and silver) * Collectible Railway * Departing Now * Micro Rubber Engines * Push Along Gallery File:TheReverend'sEdwardmodel.jpg|Awdry's model of Edward File:EdwardGordonandHenryillustration3RevWAwdry.jpg|Awdry's drawing of Gordon and Edward File:Edward'sDayOutWilliamMiddleton7.jpg|Edward illustrated by William Middleton File:EdwardandGordonRS8.PNG|Edward illustrated by C. Reginald Dalby File:SkarloeyRemembersRS1.jpg|Edward with Skarloey in the Railway Series File:ACloseShaveRS1.PNG|Edward with Duck as illustrated by John T. Kenney File:Edward'sExploitRS3.png File:EdwardAndTheCabbagesRS4.png|Edward missing a wheel File:GoldenJubileeRS3.png File:EdwardandGordon5.png File:TheSadStoryofHenry1.jpg File:SavedFromScrap1.png File:SavedfromScrap35.png|Edward's whistle File:TheDeputation23.png File:Percy'sPromise23.png|Edward at Elsbridge File:Edward,TrevorandtheParty23.PNG File:FourLittleEngines11.png File:PaintPotsandQueens21.jpg File:JamesandtheTroublewithTrees16.png|Edward in Season 5 File:HappyEverAfter35.jpg File:ScaredyEngines10.jpg File:It'sOnlySnow52.PNG File:Edward'sBrassBand15.png File:Edward'sBrassBand12.png File:EdwardtheGreat70.png|Edward at the summer house File:EdwardtheGreat71.png File:CallingAllEngines!108.png File:CallingAllEngines!181.png|Edward the scarecrow File:SavingEdward27.png File:KeepingUpwithJames76.png File:EdwardStrikesOut48.png|Edward in Season 10 File:EdwardStrikesOut80.png|Edward with Rocky File:EdwardandtheMail56.png File:EdwardandtheMail65.png|Edward in Season 11 File:TheGreatDiscovery174.png|Edward in The Great Discovery File:SteadyEddie6.png|Edward with a CGI face File:HerooftheRails9.png File:DoubleTrouble29.png|Edward in full CGI in the thirteenth season File:SlippySodor49.png File:MistyIslandRescue501.png File:CharlieandEddie8.png File:EdwardtheHero2.png File:BlueMountainMystery297.png File:Salty'sSurprise9.png File:KingoftheRailway311.png|Edward in King of the Railway File:SteamieStafford53.png|Edward in the seventeenth season File:NoSnowforThomas4.png File:TaleoftheBrave432.png|Edward in Tale of the Brave File:OldReliableEdward3.png|Edward in the eighteenth season File:OldReliableEdward73.png File:TheAdventureBegins13.png|Edward in The Adventure Begins File:Edward'sModelSpecification.PNG|Edward's model specifications File:Edwardwithnameboard.png|Edward with nameboard File:RareEdwardNameplate.jpg File:EdwardandtheOldCoaches.PNG|A promo shot of Edward File:EdwardwithJames'face.jpg|A rare promotional picture of Edward wearing James' face File:EdwardFront.jpeg|Head-on model promo File:Edward.jpg|Edward with his Driver File:FourLittleEngines19.png File:Edward,TrevorandtheReallyUsefulParty5.PNG|Note the grey engine front in the background, is actually Tugs' Puffa's front. File:ThomasandEdwardpromo.jpg|A promo of Edward and Thomas File:EdwardtotheRescue!9.png File:EdwardSeason13promo.jpg|Promotional CGI image of Edward File:EdwardCGIPromo2.png File:Edwardhead-onpromo.png|Head-on promo File:EdwardandThomasCGIpromo.png|CGI promo of Edward with Thomas File:EdwardatTidmouthShedsCGIpromo.png File:EdwardKnapfordPromo.PNG File:EdwardattheSteamworkspromo.png|Edward at the Sodor Steamworks File:EdwardatTidmouthShedspromo.png|Edward at Tidmouth Sheds File:EdwardattheSeasidePostcard.JPG File:EdwardInteractiveLearningSegment.png|Edward in an interactive learning segment File:EdwardDraytonManor.jpg|Edward's model at Drayton Manor File:AnImportantVisitor6.png|Edward in a magazine story File:TheRunawaymagazinestory1.png File:TheReallyUsefulTractionEngine6.png|Edward in an annual story File:HenryandtheTunnel2.jpg File:Edward'sbasis.jpg|Edward's basis File:TheWorkshopsRailMuseumEdwardandJames.JPG|Edward and James at a Day Out With Thomas event Merchandise Gallery File:ERTLEdward.jpg|ERTL File:ERTLminatureEdwardstickerfacekeyring.JPG|ERTL Keyring File:ERTLGoldRailEdward.jpg|ERTL Gold Rail File:HornbyEdward.png|Hornby File:EdwardBachmann.jpg|Bachmann File:Take-AlongEdward.jpg|Take-Along prototype File:Take-AlongEdwardmetallic.jpg|Metallic Take-Along File:Take-n-PlayEdward.jpg|Take-n-Play File:Take-n-PlayTalkingEdward2014.png|Talking Take-n-Play File:CollectibleRailwayEdward.jpg|Collectible Railway File:WoodenRailwayEdward.jpg|2002 Wooden Railway File:WoodenRailway2013Edward.jpg|2013 Wooden Railway File:BrioEdward.jpg|Brio File:TOMYEdward.jpg|Motor Road and Rail File:TrackmasterEdward.jpg|TrackMaster File:2014TrackMasterEdward.png|2014 Trackmaster File:MegaBloksEdward.png|Mega Bloks File:MyFirstThomasEdward.jpg|My First Thomas model File:NakayoshiEdward.jpg|Nakayoshi File:DeAgostiniEdward.jpg|De Agostini File:Wind-upEdward.jpg|Wind up File:Wind-upClearMetallicSurprisedEdward.jpg|Wind up Clear Metallic File:Wind-upPartyEdward.jpg|Wind up Party File:PezThomasandEdward.jpg|PEZ Thomas and Edward File:2012TomicaEdward.jpg|Tomica File:BandaiTECEdward.jpg|Bandai TEC File:DepartingNowEdward.png|Departing Now File:DiablockEdward.jpg|Diablock File:Micro-RubberEdward.jpg|Micro Rubber File:PushAlongEdward.jpg|Push Along File:MyThomasStoryLibraryEdward.png|My Thomas Story Library book File:Edward2011StoryLibrarybook.jpg|2011 Story Library book File:MyThomasStoryLibaryEdwardJapaneseCover.jpg|Japanese Library Book See also * Category:Images of Edward he:אדוארד Category:Tender engines Category:Steam locomotives Category:North Western Railway Category:4-4-0 Category:Edward's Branch Line